How All Four Versions of A Star Is Born Compare, and Why the Film Keeps Coming Back

A successful man discovers and uplifts a young ingenue, only to be eclipsed by her success and fall prey to his own demons: that is the central, immutable story of all four iterations of A Star Is Born, though details shift, adapting to each distinct era.

"It’s Hollywood’s favorite structured myth about itself. Hollywood makes these movies, like A Star Is Born, that are supposedly self-critical, as though they’re being made by somebody outside of Hollywood. As though the point of view of the movie is with the audience, being like, ‘Look at this horrible place, and what it does to humanity.’ But really that movie is obviously also a product of Hollywood. As it’s critiquing itself, it’s also shoring up the audience’s fascination with how it works."

But with this year's remake up for a stunning eight Academy Awards—including Best Picture, and Lady Gaga for Best Actress—there's a value in examining each version, and how the story has evolved from 1937 to today. Below, all four A Star Is Born movies, and how they stack up.

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11937: Starring Janet Gaynor and Fredric March

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The 1937 movie follows Esther Blodgett (Janet Gaynor), a North Dakota farm girl who goes to Hollywood with the hopes of making it big. She meets successful actor Norman Maine (Fredric March), who helps her career along as the pair fall in love. As she becomes a big name, he succumbs to his alcoholism. Notably, whereas the subsequent remakes would all contain musical numbers, there are none in this first version.

In a way, even this first As Star Is Born was a remake: it takes cues from 1932's What Price Hollywood?, which was in turn based on the real-life relationship between actress Colleen Moore and John McCormick. That film was directed by George Cukor, who declined to direct the first A Star Is Born, but would go on to direct its first remake in 1954.

George Cukor came back to direct the first musical iteration of A Star Is Born—through studio executives re-filmed and cut scenes without his approval. Eventually, a version for film buffs was released that intended to reconstruct Cukor's vision.

The story follows the same general arc that the 1937 movie did, with a young hopeful discovered by a star actor past his prime. He grows jealous of her increasing success, and in the end, kills himself by walking into the sea (the same method used by Fredric March's character in the first A Star Is Born).

The film was billed as Judy Garland's comeback, after years of struggling with mental health and addiction lead her to negotiate a release from her MGM contract four years earlier.

The third movie has the most in common with this past year's remake. It shifts the story's setting from Hollywood to the music industry, and has an aging rock star as its male lead. It also features big-name musician Barbra Streisand as its ingenue.

There are also a few more subtle departures, informed by changing politics and gender norms. For instance, in the first two movies the grieving wife declares that she will go by "Mrs. Norman Maine" from thereon. In the 1976 version, she calls herself "Esther Hoffman Howard," taking only the last name from her late husband John Norman Howard.

While all other iterations of the movie achieved critical success, the 1976 A Star Is Born received negative-to-mixed reviews. But that didn't stop it from becoming popular with audiences: it was a huge box-office hit.

Viewers also fell in love with an original song from the movie, "Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born)," not unlike the "Shallow" mania that seemed to captivate the country for months this past year.

The overall plot of the 2018 A Star Is Born feels very similar to the 1976 version, but there are still some important differences. For the first time, it's not jealousy of his wife's fame as much as his own addictions that do in the male lead.

The names, too, are changed: Esther is swapped for Ally, and in a riff on the Norman Maines in the 1937 and 1954 movies, the rockstar goes by Jackson Maine.

It's also the first time one of the film's stars, Bradley Cooper, doubled as its director; although Barbra Streisand was quite involved with the 1976 production, executive-producing and writing music in addition to acting.

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